Tag: Marriage Equality

Will Marriage Equality Come to North Carolina Next?

Trish

After Republicans hijacked North Carolina’s general assembly, an anti marriage equality constitutional amendment was presented to voters, and it passed. But with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which ended the ridiculous Defense of Marriage Act, some local officials are doing the right thing anyway.

[Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew] Reisinger told Reuters: “Lord knows I’ve had a handful of close friends who are in same-sex relationships come in and ask for a marriage license. It’s hard to get the words out to tell them, ‘No.'”

He said licenses were sought by six same-sex couples, including a lesbian couple together for 20 years whose request had been repeatedly denied.

“I have concerns about whether we are violating people’s civil rights based on this summer’s Supreme Court decision,” said Reisinger, 30, who is married and was elected to his post in Asheville, North Carolina, three years ago.

In Pennsylvania, Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who also is a Democrat, said in July she would not defend her state’s ban on gay marriage in a case before federal court in Pennsylvania, calling it “wholly unconstitutional.”

Reisinger’s office issued a statement formally requesting the North Carolina attorney general’s review.

If You Have a Sister, Be Thankful She’s Not Like Liz Cheney

Trish

In 2004, Dick Cheney proved that even conservative Republicans are one gay child away from a sensible view on marriage. In 2012, Liz Cheney is proving that Republicans will sell out a sibling to win a primary.

— LOLGOP, National Memo columnist, noting that Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney declared herself against marriage equality in an effort to prove she is even more conservative than incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi. Cheney’s sister, Mary, is openly gay.

California Supreme Court Rules That Same-Sex Marriages Can Continue – For Now

Jon Ponder

The hate groups behind Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage amendment in the California constitution, lost their appeal for an immediate to halt same-sex marriages in the state this week, but the Republican-controlled state Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing on their petition in August and could decide to reinstate a permanent ban then:

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Court Sticks A Knife in DOMA

Trish

CNN:

In its divided ruling on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the high court said legally married same-sex couples must receive the same benefits provided to heterosexual couples. The act had defined marriage as only between a man and a woman, but the court said the law violated the rights of same-sex couples by demoting their marriages to second-class status when compared to their heterosexual peers.

The court said law wrongly “instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others.”
Now, the federal government recognizes the marriage of those same-sex couples who are legally married in their states.

Republican National Committee Meets in the Heart of Hollywood But Can’t Drum up GOP Stars to Lend Youth-Oriented Buzz to the Event

Jon Ponder
The RNC could not find a movie or TV star to attend its 2013 spring meeting in Hollywood as part of its outreach to young people, so Dick Cheney, the GOP’s favorite living war criminal, was flown in to deliver a lunchtime speech

The Republican National Committee is holding its spring meeting this week in a hotel in the heart of Hollywood. As these sorts of events go, this one has generated more speculation about the GOP’s rationale for choosing to meet in a place that is home to an industry Republicans revile, and vice versa, than it has actual news coverage on local outlets.

So what was RNC Chairman Reince Priebus thinking when he decided to hold his spring meeting behind enemy lines?

The answer comes from Beltway insider Politico.com, which notes that a key criticism in the Republican National Committee’s aptly nicknamed 2012 election “autopsy” report released last month was that the “party is seen as old and detached from pop culture.” To counter this, the autopsy committee recommended that the GOP “establish an RNC Celebrity Task Force of personalities in the entertainment industry to host events for the RNC and allow donors to participate in entertainment events as a way to attract younger voters.”

Preibus’ decision to hold the meeting in Hollywood appears to have been the first step in the party’s celebrity outreach — and, if so, this first step has clearly been an abysmal, even laughable failure, so much so that Priebus is now denying that reaching out to celebrities had anything to do with his choice of Hollywood as the meeting site.

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Starbucks CEO Tells Shareholders Against Marriage Equality to Sell Their Stocks

Trish

If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much.

— Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, at the company’s annual meeting. Schultz was responding to a shareholder who suggested that a boycott by people against marriage equality, which Starbucks supports, was hurting the bottom line.

Republican Senator Comes Out for Marriage Equality After Acknowledging His Son is Gay

Trish
Portman, left, campaigning for Romney in 2012

Even as his party at CPAC confirms its commitment to denying one set of taxpayers the right to marry the adult they love and somehow concluding this is not discrimination, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is speaking out in defense of marriage equality.

Portman’s position on the subject has “evolved,” as the saying goes, for a very personal reason. His son, a student at Yale, is gay.

Portman: ‘I told Mitt Romney everything’

“I’m announcing today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about that has to do with gay couples’ opportunity to marry,” Portman told CNN.

It has to do with another revelation, one deeply personal. His 21-year-old son, Will, is gay.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, personally, I think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage that I’ve had for over 26 years. That I want all of my children to have, including our son, who is gay,” said Portman.

Portman campaigned for Mitt Romney for president in 2012, and was among Romney’s choices for the vice presidential slot. Team Romney denied that Portman’s son, or his acceptance of him, was a factor in their decision to choose someone else.

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